The Fortress
by baofu
Summary: She should've asked for more money, no, she should have demanded to get the money prior to doing the damn thing. Now she's stuck here, shrunk and once more expecting to go through puberty. It doesn't even make sense. Everything comes naturally like she belonged, but that could be because of her unnatural advantage, but still- And these people aren't even REAL! (OC Insert)
1. Chapter 1

1: "Once Upon Where It Began"

Reese knew she was done for. Not only were her entire 'squad-mates' totally incapacitated, all their weapons had been destroyed as well. The gate was closed, key gone, and the freak she was supposed to help hunt for is dying, thereby closing all hope she may have had on ever returning home and collecting her 'consultancy fee'.

She was stuck and had no one. Life really sucks.

Kneeling down to apply pressure to, yes, THE enemy-but-hell-she's-about-to-go-lone-wolf-soon-so-what-the-hell's bleeding out chest, the 25-year-old unlikely savior rummaged all the self-control she could get to put on her best 'Good Samaritan' face.

"As a fellow 'believer' of the Gate and the wonders it could do, is there any way for you to even consider helping me live and go home?"

God, it sounded ridiculous even to her. She'd just helped bring this man down and then had the gall to ask for help? Truly she was Reese The Pathetic.

Miraculously, if there ever was one, the dying man looked at her with something akin to pity.

"You... You believe..?"

"Yeah," Reese nodded kindly. "I was a member of FF, too. Granted, I only read, but-"

"Then- Then why did..?" was the man's questioning glance, a hint of betrayal in his expression.

"As much as I wanted to have the wonders of this world?" Reese answered, for once honest with herself. "Man, I'm not willing to destroy OUR world in the process. There's no place like home, y'know?" to which the dying man laughed weakly, blood pouring from his mouth.

"Yeah... I guess... I should've thought of that, huh?" he continued to laugh weakly, tragedy lingering in the air. "It's just- I never... I never belonged in THERE, yeah..? This place- I was supposed to have a new life here-" more laughter.

A few minutes passed as Reese watched her enemy slowly loose strength amidst tragic laughter.

"GodOfShinobi," Reese started but was immediately cut off.

"It's Vincent-" the man coughed up. "Vincent Riley-" and then laughed. "And I swear... to myself that... never- that name," and then laughed. "God-" a silent tear made its way down the man's admittedly boyish face.

"Vincent-" Reese began, holding the dying man's hand in a plea. "Please, please if there's anything you know-"

The man laughed, coughing up more blood as he did so.

"Anything..." laughter. "Does it matter..? This place- This world... You can't go home if you're dead-"

"But what if I live? Vincent, please. What if I lived? Can I still make it? Please-"

"You... You want to go home that bad..?" more laughter. "You- You love that place, huh..." and then laughter. "An FF member, preferring the real world... Or maybe it was just me..?" a sudden pause. "Was I that blind..?"

Silence ruled the background as desperate breathing resonated.

"...fully soak under the bath and run to the nearest village," Vincent suddenly said.

Reese blinked.

"What?"

"Push-" the dying man pushed Reese away as his last strength was quickly dwindling. "-sun in -trance- come back... 25 years-"

"What do you-"

"One-" the man lied down flat, obviously preparing for what was inevitable, "advice..." a cough. "Don't- Whatever Langley told you..." more blood and coughing spilled out the dying man's mouth, obviously drowning. "Don't... trust him-"

Muscles clenching and then suddenly relaxed, Reese watched as the man she was supposed to help find fell into absolute silence.

"...shit," was the only thing she could think of.

"Guy was really thinking long-term, huh?" the surviving brunette tilted her head at the rows of stored food lining the entire facility walls. "How the hell did those military guys not notice him with all these things..?"

'Alright,' Reese started looking around. 'Where the hell is the 'special' bath he was talking about?'

"Great, Reese- You actually believe what your enemy tells you? I mean, a bath? Really? It probably all just some ploy to-" whatever it was she going to say never made it out her mouth.

Staring agape at what could only be a pool of deep white slime, Reese could only conclude one thing.

"He want's me to take a little dip in his milk bath?"

'God, somebody's gone crazy.'

"Still, he WAS the maker of the notorious gate, even if he ended up stealing it from the government in a bout of selfishness-"

Silence stretched into the room for a few minutes.

Sigh.

"You're probably not going to make it back, so might as well."

It didn't take long for her to figure out what the bath was for.

Suddenly feeling hangover and watching yourself gradually shrink was not a good sign of things 'normal'.

Trying to catch her balance, the dead man's harried instructions came crashing back into Reese.

"...fully soak under the bath and run to the nearest village."

Fully soak under the bath and run to the nearest village.

FULLY SOAK UNDER THE BATH AND RUN TO THE NEAREST VILLAGE.

"Shit!"

Cloaking herself immediately in a sheet that used to cover a table, not really caring about her modesty, Reese begun running a fast as she can to the exit of the door.

"Run to the nearest village! RUN to the NEAREST village!" the brunette screamed, pushing doors upon doors on her bid to leave the makeshift base. "No shit!" Reese screeched as she begun tumbling in every step, physique slowly but surely changing into smaller, less steady proportions.

"Damn it-" pushing through the exit, finally, Reese forcefully fisted the sun-shaped emblem beside the entrance, watching as it dipped and then immediately resumed her run as the small base immediately disapeared from view.

"Fucking- asshole- Shit-" the brunette cursed as she ran through the woods, finally falling helplessly in the dirt and unable to get up from sudden weakness.

"No, no- Please..." Reese cried for the first time in years, reality dawning in her usually clouded mind.

'I'm- I'm gonna die here-'

Reese laughed, crying as her hands and feet and the rest of her body shrank.

"How could- How could I not have thought things through..?" she whispered, resigned.

'My stupidity got me killed-'

It was a few minutes later when silence led to a baby's heart-wrenching cry.

Akimichi Yuuta was a kind man. Surprisingly thin and supple compared to the rest of his clan, he was the brother of the current clan head and a proud Tokubetsu Jounin of Konoha.

He had been married to his wife, Aki, for ten years now, and the sad thing is, they could not have a child. They tried, they wanted to, but kami had never granted them their wish. Aki was barren, and so was he.

It was not fair, he knew, but life has a way of saying 'You can't have everything'. And so he learned to accept. He accepted what life gave him. He accepted that he could never really use his clan's signature techniques since his mother's genes were too strong apparently, making his body un-Akimichi on all sense of the word. He accepted countless missions, even those belonging lower than what his rank entailed because he needed to and his village could not afford anyone else.

The war a few years ago had diminished their forces and so, one had to step up to keep things working.

He may not look like it, but Yuuta was an Akimichi through-and-through. Kindness, loyalty, dedication- this was he, and he accepted that fact.

Which was why, on his way home finally after three years' worth of long-term infiltration, his kunoichi wife Aki on his side, the usually unflapable jounin immediately paused in mid-step as a strange noise disturbed their run.

"Yuu-kun?" the kunoichi followed her husband's action in question.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

In the silence of the trees swaying with the wind, an almost muffled cry made it into the chakra-enhanced senses of the couple.

Sharing a quick glance, the two Akimichis ran at full speed to the source of their query.

Whether it was fate or luck, Yuuta accepted the sudden gift given him and his wife.

Once more warm and relatively safe, the infant Reese was uncaring to the world.


	2. Chapter 2

2: "Change The World"

Black orbs narrowed as enemies abound, the forest not withstanding in her defense against the unknown around Konoha.

'There!' a sudden wind cleared a path for which she was to take, finally choosing the final stage of her plans.

Running as fast as her tiny little legs could carry her, Akimichi Yuuna knelt next to one of the ancient looking trees found within the Shrine of Fire in Konoha, a bottle of ink and blood mixture in one hand and a brush in another.

'This is the last one-' the three-year-old toddler frowned, tongue delicately protruding in concentration as she carefully inscribed the kanji for "Control" in the ancient bark beneath the tree's roots.

"There," the toddler nodded to herself, an out-of-place look of seriousness in her face as the complex seal she'd been tinkering with for the past... well, ever since she was finally 'able' to think and learn the damn basics, activated in a silent and non-conspicuous manner.

'Let's see if that damned Madara could go in here and do his little massacre, shall we? I'd like to see him try with everything finally in place.'

She had been two when it happened. Well, Akimichi Yuuna had been two, and she, well, she was 29- Point is, she had just regained her conscious will after suffering a whole year of being a slave to baby instincts when the Kyuubi attack happened.

She had been incredibly grateful to have lived through the ordeal, but alas, it was not exactly a happy time.

Her second parents dead, countless other clansmen as well as is the rest of the village, she'd been forced to acknowledge the glaring hole in her plans for the future.

See, she was told to wait 25 years before returning to The Base to, hopefully, go home, and her basic plan was to wait it out in safety in Konoha. Hey, its obviously the major power in this world, right? Forgetting the fact that every damn chaotic event is centered on the place, she had been in for a bad wake-up call when all of a sudden, while having her afternoon nap, a terrorizing growl erased all notions of peace from her mind.

To make things simple and short, her simple plan of waiting it out has a glaring hole in it, namely: The Snake, Akatsuki and the insane Uchiha. And adding the large amount of other hidden villages just waiting to screw Konoha over, it wasn't exactly a savvy plan either.

Konoha was safe because she knew what will happen; but it was also a dangerous place to be for very much the same reason. And she doesn't exactly have the choice of living in other villages; not only would the move increase the danger for her compared to living in Konoha, there is also the fact that her deceased 'foster' parents had negated revealing her not so Akimichi-related genes to anyone.

Nowadays, her Uncle Chouza grew a tad bit panicky every time she disapears, viewing her as the last connection to his now deceased younger and only brother. And since the man had been pretty much a doting surrogate father to her...

She was stuck in Konoha, period.

Which brings everything down to The Plan: Since she obviously could not leave Konoha until 25 years into the future, and she knows for a fact that there's a very good chance of her becoming a casualty if ever things go the way they were supposed to in canon, she needed to do everything she can to make her village as safe as possible, sans putting herself into the spotlight.

She may be currently Mary Sue-ish in her position in FF terms, but she was not stupid. She had to do what she needed to without anyone the wiser.

For her survival, and the continued existence of her surrogate family, who by the way had been TOO overlooked in her opinion, she had to protect Konoha with everything she's got. Mainly, with time, knowledge and precognition; well, 'almost' precognition. No one can really fault her if ever, yeah? Not that they'll ever know.

Fortunately, people of this world, shinobi or otherwise, are mostly suckers when it comes to seals. And more lucky, the people who might possibly be considered experts on the field are either had just gone on indefinite leave, or members of Akatsuki, who are not Konoha citizens and definitely would not be making a visit until a few years into the future.

Lastly, as if Lady Luck herself was on her side, Konoha allows full disclosure of sealing basics to the public, obviously as an attempt to somehow not let the art die down as most just use storage seals.

To make things short, obtaining a copy of 'The Fundamentals of Sealing' had been easy, and so was mastering it. Blame it on being a reasonable adult stuck inside a child's body, maybe she was a repressed genius, etc., but sans the fact that she wasn't exactly a master of sealing bijuus or whatnot, she had the basics all down and good. Which was great since the basics are all you need anyway.

It took her a full year to perfect the design away from any prying eyes, and another to bend the hurdle she was sure to encounter but did not.

Fact is, she knew she was not native to this world and couldn't possibly have the ability to channel chakra or have even an ounce of said energy in her. Fact is, she'd originally planned on just stealing some of the blood-ink mixes her uncle kept in his study for the seals.

She did not expect to undergo clan-mandated chakra checks and find out that little Vincent's tub of shrinkage not only made her deage, but also incorporated chakra coils into her biological system.

Fact is, she can use and have chakra, which sped up her plans just in time to stop one giant tragedy waiting to happen in Konoha.

Checking to make sure her seals are in full effect, Yuuna hurried to run her way home so she can begin the next step in her scheme: Stop the fall of the Uchiha.

Judging from the fact that it had been approximately one year since the Kyuubi attack, she had just about three to four years to stop exactly THAT, at least she thinks so (Oh boo-hoo, her perception of time is screwed).

Akimichi Chouza was worried. It never really occured to him before, but now that it has been pointed out, he does feel like the Uchiha were not exactly treated fairly. It took his three-year-old niece for him to realize that not only do most civilians and Konoha nin fear the silent clan, they were treated with suspicion.

"Uncle Cho," the sweet innocent child of his dear brother began during their weekly family trip to the market, looking at a man yell angrily at a KMP officer, "why is that man yelling at the nice policeman?"

"Ah, its probably a misunderstanding, Yuu-chan," he answered gently, inwardly frowning as he kept an ear out at the conversation.

"Why the hell should I listen to you, you stuck-up bastard!" the clearly drunken man screamed some more. "You're not even a REAL shinobi, demoted to a policeman you Uchiha scum-"

"Please calm down, sir. I was only trying to make sense of what happened-"

"This fucking bitch is what happened!"

Chouza twitched, covering his niece's ears as he watched his wife do the same with their son, Chouji.

"Chouza," his wife Sachiko frowned worriedly, "perhaps I should go ahead to Yakiniku with the children first..?" and then sent a glance at the growing more aggravated group of drunkards surrounding the lone policeman.

"Hai, I think you should do that," the kind man nodded, smiling as he set down his niece to walk.

Watching as his family went their way, the Clan Head turned back to the scene just in time as one of the drunkards took out a knife and leaned to stab the lone Uchiha.

Needless to say, it had been a useless effort as the skilled shinobi easily disabled the attack, resulting in the attacker's broken wrist.

"Ahhhhhhhh! My hand!"

"I must ask you sir, to please stand down," Uchiha Yashino calmly intoned.

'No fucking doubt this goes up to the elders again-'

"You-! You-!" the man was clearly in pain, trying to lash out.

"If you please would cooperate," Yashino asked politely, "I will now escort you and your friends to the station."

Watching as the officer and the detained walk away, Chouza was both relieved that he was not needed to intervene and a little bit edgy, feeling that the issue was not over at all.

Watching as some of the onlookers visibly glare at the Uchiha walking away, Chouza worried and decided to perhaps keep a closer look into the goings of the village police.

It worried him that the citizens of Konoha held no respect for the policeman who clearly had been only doing his job.

What he found out next was shocking and a little bit disturbing, to say the least.

Shikaku blinked, lazy countenance a bit subdued at the sudden information.

"The Uchihas... kidnap civilians..?" the Nara head repeated, voice incredulous even to himself. "Chouza, what?"

"You heard right," the kind-hearted man was visibly worried. "Not only that. Apparently, they do it to test every new jutsu they obtain from enemies and even those stolen from fellow Konoha nins."

"That's..." Yamanaka Inoichi frowned, "ridiculous. I've known Fugaku since we were kids and that man is if not duty-obsessed, a little TOO anal about honor. I doubt he'd take kindly to the kind of practice the rumors suggest."

"I know that!" the Akimichi patriarch practically bristled. "But you wouldn't imagine what kind of malicious rumors has been circulating about their clan. There was even one about Orochimaru- Like how the Uchihas had used their doujutsu to control him and get him to turn traitor so they would have greater chance to the Hokage seat. Or how they were the ones who had set the Kyuubi toward Konoha-"

"Those are..." Shikaku frowned, "all a little TOO realistic for mere rumors. Their founding father, if I'm not mistaken, Uchiha Madara had been able to control bijuus. And that information is not at all available for civilians to talk about."

"So you see what I mean?" Chouza worried. "Something is really REALLY wrong."

The three veteran shinobis grew quiet in thought.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," Inoichi nodded. "Someone is obviously doing their worse to discredit the Uchiha, and I think that someone is up somewhere where secret information is easily reached."

"Ho-Hokage-sama would not," Chouza paled at the very thought.

"I don't think so," Shikaku frowned, mind furiously going through every scenario he can think of. "The Sandaime may be a bit cautious towards them, but he would never sanction this kind of campaign. Suspicious or not, the Uchihas are half the founding clan of Konoha and any damage on them is a major tarnish on Konoha itself. No- Someone else is pulling the strings," a few minutes of thoughtful silence.

"We have to do something," Inoichi broke in. "These rumors are not exactly mild if what is happening now is taken into account. I remember an investigation just a couple days ago that had been closed because one of the civilians apparently complained that the Uchiha officer who detained him had used him as a practice dummy."

"Right," Chouza frowned. "I don't think Fugaku liked that one even though he never said anything even now."

"Hn," Shikaku nodded. "Perhaps. Even without knowing the culprit behind this, I fear we need to move now before this goes any further."

The two patriarchs suddenly looked paler at the implication.

"You..." Inoichi carefully begun, "don't think the Uchiha would do something, don't you?"

In reply, Shikaku pursed his lips, choosing to impart an age old wisdom that has been passed down through generations.

"To anger a woman, burn her beauty. To enrage a man, attack his pride."

"Really bad feeling," Inoichi mumbled, massaging his forehead.

Yuuna resisted the urge to run as far away as possible.

Sure, her plan worked, judging from the fact that it was now two months later since her little bit of manipulative push and she was now seated as one of the many clan children joining the first ever Unity Festival of Konoha, a celebration of Konoha's founding clans and their contribution to the village.

She knew, that while in public it was a so-called 'unity' thing event, among the many clans in attendance, it was an acceptance of the Uchiha Clan back to the heart of the village.

It took some considerable effort and empathy on her part, but she had watched in secret as the situation got considerably better with such efficiency, she suspected that the Nara Head had been the master planner.

Now she didn't know exactly what had happened, but judging from the fact that the Uchiha Clan seemed somewhat less tense than what she was used to, or how Fugaku would always look at her Uncle Chouza with grateful respect, or how the same man would grudgingly tolerate Nara Shikaku's lazy ways, she was pretty sure that everything pretty much happened just as she predicted.

Although, judging from the fact that the three geriatric stooges are still around and hanging by the clueless Sandaime's side, Yuuna suspected that whatever happened in the shadows is not exactly without loose strings.

'Fucking Danzo and his cronies- Geezer geriatric psychopaths who can't let go-'

"I better upgrade the seals just in case," the strange Akimichi mumbled incoherently to herself, fiddling with the loose red tie in her hair.

She understood that anything could happen now that things are changed. She understood perfectly.

Aside from the main plan, she just have to make sure that Konoha's unity remains and gets stronger so she didn't have to worry about anything so tragic in the near future, like the village being destroyed, etc, and thus her imminent demise.

No, she understood too well to think otherwise.

Although, she wondered if getting into such close quarters with what could only be a recipe for disaster is necessary.

"Ne, Yuu-chan," the strangely cute and bubbly three-year-old Akimichi looked up in mild apprehension as the Uchiha matriarch, Mikoto, came over to pick up the dozing two-year-old Sasuke beside her, who had been gently snoring and giving her dress some tiny little drool droplets. "It seemed like your playmate had fallen asleep, yeah?" Mikoto smiled kindly at the three-year-old.

Yuuna nodded, for really, what else is there to do?

"Okaasan," the source of Yuuna's REAL apprehension cut in. "May we see the kunai range? I would like to try for the prize."

"Hai, hai," Mikoto smiled at her eldest. "Would you like to come with us, Yuu-chan?" the matriarch glanced at the nearby Sachiko, who smiled back in assent.

Yuuna was at her wit's end at the very question.

She could handle a drooly Sasuke anytime. Give her the doglike Kiba, the incredibly traumatizing Aburame, but never, never could she handle the five-year-old in front of her.

Face strangely innocent but poker-like nonetheless, the Uchiha Genius was someone who could easily figure her out in a heartbeat.

"I-iie," the three-year-old adopted the shy girl route, hiding in her aunt's protection, face burried in cloth.

Mikoto smiled.

"Perhaps next time."

'No fucking hell, lady,' Yuuna thought vehemently. 'I save your family in secret, but that's it. Keep your brainy possibly nosy son within your sphere, ok? Thanks.'

She'd just gotten a major victory. She will not be creating a new hole to fall through.

'Stupid genius Itachi,' she glared at the back of the five-year-old, face still half-buried into her aunt.

In retrospect, that last action was pretty stupid in her part.


	3. Chapter 3

3: "Hiding in Plain Sight"

Against her fears, Yuuna had to follow what was logical. Thus, for the next two years, she remained in contact with what will ultimately be the Konoha 12, in form of playdates and of course, the never-ending visits to the playground.

It wasn't really much of a choice. She can't afford to stand out and someday, these group of children will be her primary source of information. No, she had to mingle. Which also means that she can't very well become a civilian, nor lock herself inside Akimichi Clan walls.

Besides, she's already the strange one in her family.

Even though her 'father' WAS surprisingly lean compared to the rest of his clan, said father having a child that resembled more a Hyuuga in physique judging from black hair and a bit paler complexion compared to the common Akimichi blond-brown and slightly more bright complexion is not exactly conforming.

She once breached the topic with her uncle just to feel the waters a bit, and all she got was a picture of her 'grandmother' who apparently was an outsider from Rain before marrying into the clan, who just happened to have the same features she had.

Talk about luck.

Of course, because of her physique, her uncle also told her in sadness that she may never be able to utilize the clan techniques in full as had her father before her. She did not fake the tears then.

Real or not, the Akimichi were her family and it had been a blow to not become fully one with them.

She'd been inconsolable for a whole week that even her cousin Chouji actually lost his usually genial aura, adopting a cute little pout to match her mood.

Moving on though, she knew that she can't very well depend on the Akimichi for learning jutsus anymore. I mean sure, she could still ask a few things here and there, but ultimately, she was on her own.

And it wasn't as if they actually taught her anything jutsu-ish.

There can only be too much that adults would be willing to teach a five-year-old academy student without arousing suspicion, let alone someone who can't really use the clan's signature moves.

No, she was utterly and absolutely on her own. Which could be good or bad depending on how things are viewed. Good, because she was given more freedom when it comes to training on her own, and thus the huge arsenal of self-made jutsus and seals she had; bad, because it made her look the more peculiar.

She was just thankful that none of the clan would reveal her 'difference' in style and her cousin was not so much of a blabbermouth.

She was also glad for her affinity towards genjutsu. Lacking the actual guidance for techniques, which are restricted to clans and team cells, the handseal basics taught her were enough conduit to make her jutsus act as she wanted. Nowadays, her liberal use of her special cloaking genjutsu was improving her control and reserves tremendously and curtails all 'troublesome' attention away.

The only downside was that she'd become a little TOO normal. Average grades, average circle of friends, granted, she is on speaking terms with THE Clan Heirs, at least according to her gossiping friend Nanako, but overall, her 'normalcy' could be sometimes annoying. She blame the fact that she was in an age where being flashy is cool.

'Stupid childhood-' the five-year-old academy student sighed, once again fiddling with her hair tie.

For once she wished she could just go all out without care, not really having to worry about anything. Just be... 'real', for once. But she can't really, else she be branded a genius and pushed to become another Itachi and go insane and then The End.

That would be a great ending to all the carefully painful planning she'd done.

Snort.

'I'm not going to go stupid now, not after finally perfecting the village ward-'

Still, can she really keep her head on level for the next twenty years..?

"This is gonna be hell..." she mumbled, closing her eyes to feel the ambient chakra of nature.

Hopefully, she'd live through being genin. Passed that and she'll be working safely as a medic, secure and happy inside Konoha walls.

If only life were that easy.

The day started just as it had always started.

Girls screeching, the rest yelling; all in the day's work within Shikamaru's class. The only thing slightly different compared to the rest of the academy was that this one class held the most number of Clan Heirs in one, including some second and third in line.

Not that it really mattered to the lazy Nara; in his perspective, even his fellow heirs could be a tad too predictable and thus basically something he should not bother straining himself with.

Life would be less troublesome that way, after all. Still, as always, when his best friend Chouji came over to sit beside him, he couldn't help but notice just maybe one slightly piquing persona.

As always, Akimichi Yuuna followed her cousin, obviously walking together to the academy, and seated at the same seat she had been occupying ever since class begun, even though there wasn't really a seat plan per se.

He himself take advantage of this lack of plan and would occasionally seat himself where there is plenty of ventilation and a view towards the clouds outside, depending on the situation.

Giving his head a slight shake, the Nara heir decided to just let it go.

It wasn't really any of his business.

He was just a little curious about his friend's cousin's apparent paranoia, if it could be called that, not that anything else explains it. After all, what else could it be when she would sit in the exact same place every single day, a seat within good vantage point for maximum learning, but at the same time in full access to all the exits in the room?

'Troublesome,' Shikamaru yawned lazily in his seat, taking off his usual involuntary perusal of Chouji's cousin in a breeze.

What the hell is it about her that makes him a little edgy? Sure, she might be a tad paranoid for an Akimichi her age, but the Uchiha boy's complex towards his fangirls is a lot more interesting to watch... or not.

What the hell is it that he's missing?

It was thus to the Nara's sudden tension when said Akimichi's actions suddenly went beyond routine, muscles tensing as head turned to look out the window towards the forests surrounding the village, eyes wider than what was usual.

Three seconds later, a bright light immediately followed by multiple thundering explosions overtook said forest.

'This is beyond troublesome...'

She couldn't believe it! The bastard still tried to enter Konoha even after everything she'd done. Thwarting the massacre, incorporating security wards to both Konoha and its citizens, placing a compulsion check on the fucking 'gerias'- She even risked discovery by sending the weasel chakra-enhanced pocky as a random gift for protection! What more does the freak want? More of her sweat and blood?

'God I hope those seals last-' the brunette tensely swallowed, eyes narrowing in thought as the class was halted by the worried Iruka who had ordered the class to remain still while he went out to check what was happening.

'Those were the tag-trapped seals that just went off-' Yuuna winced, a gesture revealed with a tick in the eye.

For once she wished that she was not such a coward, foregoing venturing farther into Konoha's borders to place more protection.

"Enough," she mumbled incoherently to herself, worried. "Even if he gets passed that, he cannot possibly get passed the motive sensors-"

'But what if the bastard had decided on a full frontal attack?'

Yuuna paled dangerously white at the thought.

Did she royally fucked things up by changing everything..?

Iruka was beside himself with worry.

Not only do none of the academy teachers knew what was going on, any inquiries from the tower had been fruitless. Apparently, no one was scheduled to do any serious jutsu practice in the training grounds of the forest so the entire event was being treated like an invasion scenario.

Last he heard, ANBU were being called to investigate, the KMP were ordered to secure the village's internal structure, civilian and shinobi alike, and all academy classes are cancelled. But that was not the only kicker, no. As the teacher handling the class with most of the Clan Heirs, he was assigned the task to keep said heirs safe. It was one out of many scenarios that any attack would have been aimed at his class as well.

And so it was, now fully aware of the possible danger, the dedicated chuunin shunshin-ed his way back to a classroom of anxious pre-genin and proceeded to headcount before proceeding to evacuate the children.

"Alright everyone," Iruka yelled above the noise of anxiety and explosions, "let's all stay together and go for the shelters! And if I find anyone of you trying to stray, kami help me-"

Subdued, the peculiar group of academy students followed their teacher as directed but not exactly without excitement.

"Oi, sensei!" the burly five-year-old Kiba called to Iruka. "What the hell is going on huh? Are we in a war or something?"

"Shut up you mutt, can't you see sensei is busy?" Yamanaka Ino glared at the Inuzuka, perturbed at the lack of sense with her classmate.

'Honestly, can't the guy take a hint that something serious is going on?'

"A-ano..." Hyuuga Hinata nervously played with her fingers, "y-you don't think it's K-Kumo..?"

"Of course not, Hinata-chan!" the blond assured kindly.

Really, ever since the attempted kidnapping, her fellow heiress had not been the same.

'I still can't believe the Kumo nin was caught dancing dazedly by the walls- Dad could be such a liar,' Ino thought, snorting as she followed with the rest of their class to the shelters. 'I mean, really; entering the village to kidnap a Hyuuga and then stalling to dance by the walls? How stupid could you get?'

"Hey Ino-pig!" her ex-bestfriend Sakura glared at her. "Stop fantasizing about Sasuke-kun and listen to sensei!"

Ino glared back at the pink-haired forehead-menace.

Falling in-line, the blond Yamanaka heiress swore that one of these days, the girl was bound for a beating.

'I'll definitely win against her for Sasuke-kun!' and then sent heart-shaped stares at the aforementioned Uchiha.

For his part, the five-year-old Uchiha merely suffered a shiver.

He shouldn't have made that fireball at the start of class like Shisui-nii said; he should've known this was going to happen.

'Stupid fangirls-'

"Ohf-!" the black-haired boy felt someone bump in his back, stopping himself just in time to prevent falling.

Turning around, Sasuke glared as hard as he could at the blond idiot he knew as Uzumaki Naruto.

"The hell dobe-"

"Hey, it wasn't me teme!" Naruto immediately defended, obviously offended at the accusation. "It was Kuro and his friends!" the blond pointed at a group of civilian-born students who were causing trouble for everyone and had pushed him towards the Uchiha.

'Why the hell are those guys always messing with him anyway?' the blond prankster glowered. 'Probably jealous 'cause he's going to be Hokage, yeah?'

"Baka," Sasuke twitched, watching the group of kids get verbally clobbered by their scary teacher.

'They probably won't make it as shinobi with their attitude,' he thought, resuming with the rest on their way.

It was ten minutes later that the entire class found themselves waiting at the emergency shelters, cramped along with the rest of the other academy students and their teachers.

Told to stay quiet amidst all the loud sound of explosions still echoing all over the village, furious whispering filled the underground hallway as students dealt with the excitement.

Out of the blue, though, one question came up from a suddenly panicking Chouji.

"A-ano Iruka-sensei," the Akimichi, pale and shaking, came up to his teacher, "Yuu-chan and Shika-"

The chuunin blanched.

"Son of a-" Iruka ran.

It was all he could do at this point.

Shikamaru swallowed, hard.

He didn't think he'd find something, but he did.

"The hell-" the Nara heir watched, hidden behind a bush, as the aforementioned Akimichi immediately began feeding chakra at a set of seals in the Fire Temple, breath still heavy after running to said place from the shelters.

'What is she doing?' the five-year-old tensely watched.

It didn't take long for him to find out exactly what was happening as, out of the blue, all the explosions stopped, followed by a wave of powerful chakra sweeping through the village parameters, all centered in the temple his peculiar classmate was currently playing chakra feeding with.

Minutes later, the strange Akimichi stopped whatever she was doing and once again ran, this time as far away from the temple as she can.

Shikamaru had half the mind to follow when several swishing sounds resonated all over.

He swallowed.

Exactly a minute later, he was face-to-face with the Hokage.

'Mendokuse...'

Yuuna slid down the wall as she reached the shelters, being accosted by a relieved Chouji and a severely agitated Iruka who'd spared no minute from scolding her off.

Really, she didn't care.

She'd just successfully expelled Uchiha Madara by force from the village and lived to tell about it. Okay, she won't be telling anyone about it but it is a BIG achievement, especially for a pre-genin. She had half the mind to activate a truly devastating seal she made out of the idea from X-Men 3 but there were ANBUs chasing down the bastard. With the amount of hostility her proximity seals were warning her of, she wouldn't dare risk it. Which meant she had to use other less risky, creative means, such as activating a tricky locator-slash-space jutsu seal which would basically 'kick off' the target from an area with the force of a thunderbolt.

Already she felt faint from the loss of chakra but it was soooo worth it.

Hopefully, the bastard won't be making any trip to the village soon. And if he was 'kicked' a little farther from Fire Country, all the better.

The jutsu was an incomplete inspired combination of the Hiraishin and lightning release, one she was hoping to be able to utilize fully once perfected, and had the pain scale of exploding thunder once hit (her clones were more than happy to tell her), be it for the moulder or the target or both.

Yuuna sighed as Iruka finally walked off, leaving her to relax just a little bit.

Really, she'd been lucky; the insane Sharingan freak was caught off guard and was busy with the other less risky trap seals; that and she had just the right timing to do something and not be found out.

'Maybe I'm really cut out for this business..?' the brunette asked herself as she smiled apologetically at her cousin.

Minutes later, she was called to the Hokage's office.

Yuuna gave the attempt everything she had; eyes wide, blank face... all aimed to the unbelievably nosy Nara beside her in an attempt to unnerve.

Shikamaru bristled nervously in his seat, obviously out of his element, if not a little pale.

She was obviously leaking killing intent but she didn't really care as of this point.

'Serves the brat right-' she pursed her lips.

"Now, now Yuu-chan," the Sandaime looked amused at the ongoing tension in his office. "Shika-kun was only informing me of his observations. I hardly think that he deserves such hostility, hm?"

"He is a nosy, lazy, blabbermouth," she reiterated frankly, glaring.

Hiruzen just chuckled.

Really, he didn't think he'll be able to live in another interesting time in his old age.

"I have a proposition for the two of you..."


	4. Chapter 4

4: "Goodbye Academy, Hello Torture"

Time makes everything a little strange, even more so than normal.

Yuuna had promised herself again and again that she would not get involved with anyone for her sanity's own sake and mostly had been doing well ever since she entered the Academy. No one messes with her, she gets her way, and more often than not, she gets to relax, even in the presence of classmates that more or less are the subject of her nightmares inspired by the near future.

Once in a while though... Ok, more often than not, in secret, she can't stop herself from maybe just making the blonde Uzumaki's life a little easier. Like distracting teachers from targeting the guy (which she can only do at times to avoid a pattern), leaving lunch for him to take during breaks... She had even made sure that the boy at least would have a quality-ish-standard living arrangement (it was hell trying to sneak a maintenance seal into that junk apartment of his, too). So far, no ones the wiser, and she liked it that way. Speaking of...

"Tomorrow is the Ninja School's Graduation Exam! You have failed the last two times! This is no time to be causing trouble, moron!"

'Damn it- Iruka's way beyond pissed this time. At this rate...' she watched as the orange-obsessed blonde yet again cross a line into snapping their sensei out of choosing mercy.

"Time for a review test on Henge no Jutsu!" the man instantly snapped in return. "Everyone line up and transform perfectly into me!"

'Ah crap,' Yuuna pursed her lips as she got up from her seat, forming the start of the line as is the normal for her character, meaning, a spoiled, rotten Akimichi that took her years of perfecting for the sake of not being too peculiar.

Not that it's baseless. Her Uncle Cho HAD spoiled her rotten.

"Alright, Yuu-chan," Iruka started, standing in front of the entire line and facing her. "Show me a henge of myself."

Scoofing pompously with a swish of her long black hair that she admittedly pampers in a daily ritual, the aforementioned Akimichi formed the handseal for the jutsu.

"Henge!" she more or less announced as she instantly took perfect form of her teacher, who was nodding and started writing something in a paper.

"Next, Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka announced.

Walking back to her seat, Yuuna rolled her eyes as she heard what the others were saying to the poor kid.

"This is all your fault."

"Like I care," Naruto answered, a defiant frown in his face as he walked forward. "Ok, here we go!" and then yelled, "Transform!"

Yuuna pinched her nosebridge in dismay even before the prank took form.

'Seriously, this place is like a pervert's haven...' the brunette resisted the urge to throw something at the class idiot in annoyance as the blonde predictably got yelled at for the perverted jutsu.

"You dumbass! Don't invent stupid skills!" and with that, she tuned the rest out.

'Same, same. Just another day in Konoha,' she sighed as she mentally prepared for another day of stalking her Uchiha classmate home, along with the rest of the girls in class. 'The things I do for appearances...' and then glanced a look at said kid, seamlessly adopting the same dreamy look as the rest of the fangirls do. 'I mean, sure, he does look cute, I'll give him that, but even then it would take me a couple more years before I could actually appreciate and do something with it.'

The joy of experiencing puberty.

Again.

'I hate my life,' Yuuna inwardly groaned as the class was finally dismissed.

"Okaeri, Yuu-chan," one of her many aunts greeted genially as she entered their clan's estate later that day. "Did you have a good time at Uchiha-kun's?"

Yuuna twitched, grumbling incoherently as she sat down and started taking off her shoes.

'I fucking HATE fangirls...'

"Aa, I'm sure he will come around," her Aunt Yoko smiled kindly at her. "No one can resist Yuu-chan's charms for too long."

She didn't even want to think whether or not said aunt actually believed what she was saying.

She doesn't.

In fact, she hoped things would remain as it is and if permanently, she'll be happy indeed. It was the main reason why she joined in the stalking of the brat after all. It was an unwritten rule that fangirls are INSIGNIFICANT, which is what she wants deep in her heart so she could live in this world in peace.

She sighed.

"Is Chouji home yet?" she asked as she got up and started walking to the kitchen.

"Iie. Chou-kun had been invited to a play date with the Inuzukas, remember?" her aunt reminded.

Of course.

"Aa, did Yuu-chan forget already?" Yoko teased kindly before gently patting the black-haired girl in the head. "I seem to recall something about puppy stealing?"

"No," Yuuna negated with a furious flush going from her face down her neck.

'Stupid Kiba-' she grumbled to herself as her aunt continued giggling in the background. 'And I could've gotten that puppy, too, if he freakin didn't tell on me.'

"Aa, of course Yuu-chan. By the way, Sachiko said that she'll be staying late with Hyuuga-sama and Uchiha-sama for the festival planning this year. She said that you can take your time in the workshop this time but try not to stay up too late. Chouza-sama is going to be late with Council meetings, too, and your cousin Chouji won't be back until tomorrow," to which the Akimichi heiress just nodded, almost nonchalantly as she opened a bag of chips and took out a piece.

"Hai. I'll go to bed in time," Yuuna sighed in an exasperated manner.

"Oh and do come over our house if you don't have enough for dinner," Yoko frowned worryingly. "I know Sachiko had probably cooked you something but still, nothing's better than a fresh Akimichi meal."

"Okay, Aunt Yoko."

Let it be said that she has her own little projects during her free time.

Yuuna held the control matrix carefully and perfectly as practiced.

She couldn't fail.

This is the only chance she's got in securing a copy of all the jutsu scrolls from the Hokage Tower without no one the wiser. The Forbidden Scroll, the Hokage's personal collection...

She doesn't plan on using them after learning, as she has no plans whatsoever of being a frontline nin, but it never hurts to be prepared for anything.

After all, knowledge is a ninja's most dangerous weapon and her goal is to have as many weapons as possible.

'Finally..!' she breathed a sigh of relief as she completed the copying jutsu, courtesy of the seal she had earlier slipped in on one of Naruto's many pockets.

"Now get the hell out of there, Naruto..." she mumbled as she watched said blonde ran away from the tower, a large scroll in his back.

She tried not to think about the protection seal she'd also slipped in and made specially for tonight's events.

Nor did she remind herself of the guilt pooling deep in her gut.

'Ah hell, I'll make it up to him... somehow.'

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing here huh? Only those who passed are supposed to be here."

Yuuna watched as she resisted the urge to wince. Her entire body was in pain from practicing, and her class's constant noise-making was pushing her patience to the limits. Add the fact that her uncle was in the hospital for fatigue and you got one pissed off, barely in-control, emotionally volatile girl.

'This world is out to kill me...' she mentally groaned as an annoying pink-haired fangirl practically stole Naruto's seat beside the Uchiha. 'Somebody give ME a fucking BREAK!'

And then she froze. As did everyone else in the class.

"Naruto you bastard! I'll kill you!"

"Ahh! My mouth is rotting!"

"NaRu-TOh..!"

"It was an accident..."

Yuuna blinked, and blinked again.

'Wow... That was... Wow,' she inwardly snickered. 'Too bad I'm not a yaoi fan.'

"Alright class, settle down," Iruka announced as he entered the room, standing in front. "Beginning today, all of you are real ninjas. But, you are still merely rookie genin. The hard part has just started..."

On her seat, Yuuna suppressed the wince of discomfort she involuntarily did.

'The hard part huh...'

"You will soon be assigned duties by the village. So today we will be creating the three-man teams, and each team will have a jounin sensei," Iruka paused for emphasis. "You WILL follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties. We tried to balance each team's strength," Iruka announced as he took out the list for the new team formations.

Inwardly groaning, Yuuna sighed in dismay as everyone around her started to complain as one by one, friends and enemies alike get sorted together.

"Troublesome," the Nara heir mumbled beside her. "And I suppose they didn't think some of us are already busy enough."

Yuuna narrowed her eyes at her soemtimes friend and partner of almost 5 years worth of training under the Hokage.

"You brought this on yourself, you nosy pineapple head," she couldn't help grumbling out.

Shikamaru gave her a sideways, lazy glance.

"You're really not letting that go, huh?"

And she can't.

Thanks to Madara's little excursion in the village a couple of years ago, and the Nara heir's little nosedive in business not his, she'd had to change certain aspects of her plans for the future.

This includes going to a psychiatrist for her PPD (the only excuse she could think of on the spot when the Hokage found out about her seals), being partially taught by the Hokage on certain lessons along with the nosy prick (which virtually pulled her up the visual range in the village, which is CRAP), and of course, being commissioned by said Hokage to research and restore the first two hokage's protective seals all over the village (IF the former didn't put a bounty on her head enough, this one must be giving heart attacks to Danzou).

Basically, ordinary meets defenestration.

'Decisions, decisions...' Yuuna resisted the urge to face-palm herself.

Years of careful planning down the drain, only to be labelled Hokage's apprentice along with a lazy ass bum, even if it's not common knowledge.

It still gets to her after so many years.

In the end, everything was as predicted. Team 7 was Team 7 and she... well.

"Team 1, if you would follow me please," their nerdy looking jounin sensei called out to them as everyone started to leave by groups.

'It could be worse,' Yuuna nodded to herself as she observed the rest of her obviously plot-insignificant team. 'This is exactly what I've been aiming for. Sort of.'

Oh, who the hell is she kidding?

'These guys are cannon-fodders.'

"Come again?"

"No way man! We've already passed the genin exam! You can't do this to us!"

"Yeah, you're not even in the bingo book! Are you even really a jounin?"

Yuuna pinched the bridge of her nose, trying hard not to smack the snot-nosed brats that were assigned as her teammates-to-be.

"Tokubetsu jounin, actually," Yashino-sensei adjusted his vest. "And no, the genin exam from the academy is not the REAL genin exam. It was just a way to weed out those that had no chance of making it in the first place."

"That's crap! Why weren't we told about it if that's the case? I'm out'ta here!" and then turned to leave, followed by the other.

"My father will hear about this!" the other announced before leaving.

"..."

"..."

"Well, looks like those two are not interested..." Uchiha Yashino, Yuuna recognized as the same one from the police scene years ago, trailed off in a sigh, turning to look at his remaining prospective student. "What about you, Yuu-chan? Would you like to proceed with the test? Mind you, without teammates, you'll probably be put on reserve even if you passed..."

"It depends," the brunette shrugged in reply.

"It depends?" the man looked confused for a second as Yuuna nodded.

"It depends whether or not I actually have a chance or is this a way to weed out students with no real shinobi future?"

The sharp look sent her way was enough to cut steel, and she couldn't care less.

This world screwed her over so she'll screw it right back.

Groan.

"I assume that your new senseis are working you hard then?" the Sandaime asked amusedly, watching as his two apprentice both looked dead on their feet, slumped over their tables with paper as bedsheets.

Twitch.

"Hm, perhaps I should not have instructed them to make sure you and your teammates are ready for the Chuunin Exams next year..."

Wince.

"But then again, becoming Chuunin would make it possible to put you both in the divisions I'm thinking you both should go to."

'Damn it,' Yuuna looked up from her slump to glare at the most powerful man in the village.

"Hokage-sama. Shut. Up," she outright ordered her superior.

Sarutobi Hiruzen laughed genially.

Shikamaru didn't even bother saying anything, pretty much not having even the energy to be pissed off with their new situation.

'Damn that Oni-sensei...' the brunette grumbled to herself, wincing as memories of the past few days came rushing at the forefront of her mind. 'Tokubetsu jounin, my ass... There's no way he's not in ANBU-'

"Crap," the brunette winced as she remembered something and got up to look through her to-do-list for the day.

"I was wondering when you would remember," the Sandaime smiled, almost vindictively out-of-character for a leader known for his kindness.

"You can't make me!" the lithe but exhausted brunette tried to run but tripped on her way out of the chair she was sitting on.

"Aa, I believe we've had this conversation about a few years ago," Hiruzen reminded.

Yuuna just whined pitifully.

"It's time for your physical training with Gai."

Shikamaru shivered in his seat

***PPD: Paranoid Personality Disorder


End file.
